Whether one is able to let go or not is neither good nor bad. It is only a matter of perception. The detachment shown by body donors and their families indicates that they believe the donation itself is meaningful.

At a body cremation and memorial service on March 9, 1998, at the Tzu Chi College of Medicine, I saw both the sorrow and the detachment of the families of the body donors. Helpless to bring the dead back to life, they had to part with their loved ones forever. However, they have grasped Master Cheng Yen's concept of expanding their small love into great love, and from that they have gained strength.

After the service, I shared my feelings with my colleague, Chia-wen. She told me that one day she went into the anatomy lab while a class was in session, and the students were attentively studying a certain part of the body. The body was like a piece of stone or a dried log. She wondered whether she could say for certain that the body she saw lying there was once a person. After death, the soul leaves the body. Without life, the body is as inanimate as a stone or a log, like the body she saw before her. If it were her body lying there, what would she still have to worry about or cling to? What she had seen and thought changed her vies completely about body donation.

Some people are willing to let go, but some are not. It is a matter of perception and has nothing to do with the kind of person they are. Donors and their families are willing to give because they think it is the right thing to do. They believe that what they do will benefit others. Therefore, I think if someone has the right way of thinking, he or she should be able to make the right choice without any regret, just like the "silent teachers" and their families.

Amidst these reflections, a girl's smiling face came to my mind. Her name was Lan Ming-fang, and at seventeen years of age she became a body donor.

Enthusiastic Volunteer

An active, healthy girl, Ming-fang suddenly found a lump on her neck. After an examination, she was diagnosed as being in the third stage of lymphoma. Ming-fang's parents felt their hearts sink. The mother, worried about the threat to her daughter's life, became very depressed. Whenever she was lying in bed, she would curl up into a fetal position.

Ming-fang's father appeared much stronger. He encouraged his daughter by telling her that the value of life does not lie in its length, but in its meaning. Time after time, he accompanied her to Taipei to take chemotherapy treatments, hoping that they could save her life. Watching the girl continue her studies during her last year of high school and volunteer at Tzu Chi Hospital after school, he knew she was searching for the value of life.

Ming-fang did not want to treat herself like a patient, lying on a bed and being looked after by others. Instead, she made the best of her life and became a volunteer, walking from one ward to another, giving confidence and blessings to other cancer patients.

There was a female patient who had lost one of her breasts to cancer. She had also lost all her hair because of the chemotherapy. The change in her appearance was intolerable to her. One day, Ming-fang took off her own wig and showed the woman her bald head. She said with a smile, "See, I'm just like you!" The patient was dumbfounded at the sight. Ming-fang showed her how to wear the wig. Knowing that she could again look attractive encouraged that patient.

There was another cancer patient whose little son was always with him in the hospital. Seeing the lovely little boy, Ming-fang gave him some pocket money and told him to buy some daily necessities or some snacks for his father. Ming-fang never forgot an incident that happened to her younger brother several years ago. One day, her brother went out to buy something with a thousand-dollar note. The store owner took advantage of his young age and only gave him change for a hundred dollars. Because of that experience, Ming-fang changed a thousand-dollar note into ten hundred-dollar notes and gave one to this little boy.

Ming-fang was always very enthusiastic and fond of helping people. Mrs. Lan said that Ming-fang studied very hard at the Tzu Chi Junior College of Nursing and was granted a scholarship by Master Cheng Yen. She wanted to use that money to "adopt" a child in the family relief center, and she waited a long time to get one. Mrs. Lan said emotionally that her daughter was always so kind and thoughtful towards others, but now no one could keep her.

Mrs. Lan supported Master Cheng Yen's call for body donation, but she never expected that her daughter would donate her body before she herself did. We can only imagine how Mrs. Lan's heart ached. However, the strength shown by Ming-fang and the impermanence of life demonstrated by her illness were a revelation for Mrs. Lan. One day, like her daughter, she will walk into the wards to support other patients and their families with her own experience.

Ming-fang gave her body and her blessings in the hope that she could help medical students become conscientious doctors. Mr. and Mrs. Lan also donated NT$1 million to the Tzu Chi Foundation on behalf of Ming-fang so that she could become an honorary board member. They stated that they did this as if they were marrying their daughter to Tzu Chi and the money was her dowry.

Gaining Courage

You don't pay attention to your teeth unless you have a cavity or need a root canal. Nor would you care about your stomach unless you are too hungry or when you have eaten too much.

When your body is healthy, it is like wearing a pair of well-fitting shoes. You feel so comfortable in them that you forget that you have them on. However, when you are ill, the sick part of your body will complain about the pain. You blame yourself for not taking good care of your body. You worry about your recovery, or you may complain and sigh about the change in your appearance.

Generally speaking, patients are considerably egotistic. The suffering from the disease and their psychological pressure make them feeble and sensitive. They need company and comfort. Thus, when I heard that Ming-fang went to the Tzu Chi Hospital to do volunteer work and give consolation and encouragement to other cancer patients while she herself was undergoing chemotherapy, I couldn't help but admire her spirit.

After one year of chemotherapy, Ming-fang was declared incurable. At that most painful moment, her parents gave up their attachment to Ming-fang's body and made the decision to donate it for the students of the Tzu Chi College of Medicine. Their spirit of great giving touched me even more.

Those who lose their loved ones feel hopeless and helpless. They often have no one to cry and complain to and can only hope that someone can relieve them from their agony. However, Ming-fang's parents and the families of other body donors show their courage amidst the struggle of dealing with the suffering of their loved ones and the imminent parting. They have found a reasonable explanation for the passing of life, and they peacefully and bravely continue their journey through this world.